I realize we are fully entrenched in the month of January, and are therefore about 4-5 weeks late on New Year’s Resolution type posts, but this one took me a couple of weeks to hammer out. My personal New Year Book Resolutions may be my most important of all and I want to get them right, so that I can stick with them, but more than that, so that I can enjoy my reading experience this year.

But what about all of you, the myriad and many different readers of That’s Normal? Are all of our book reading problems the same? Of course not. Maybe you read too much or not enough. Maybe you have a hard time finding good romance, or maybe regency is the only thing you’ve read for the past three years. We all have different goals and different issues, so here are my resolutions for those dealing with maybe some common (and not so common) bookish situations.

Issue #1: My To-Be-Read List is Too Long

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This might be the most common issue of all. We all have books we’ve bought, been given, seen on a Best Of List, added to Goodreads or our Dream Reads Pinterest Board that we know there is no way we will ever get to. My TBR list on Goodreads right now is 617 books strong. I’m only happy that it does not outweigh the list of books I’ve actually read.

Source of this issue: internet recommendations. People keep telling you to read stuff (jerks) and you feel obligated to join their online chatter about it (bullies) or you will find yourself in a constant state of BOOKISH FOMO (real thing).

Book Resolution: For every book you read that is new to you (whether through online recommendations or being a new release) read one book from the oldest confines of your TBR list. I started off the year reading Dorothy Dunnett’s Game of Kings because I tried to read it last year and failed, it’s been on my list for YEARS, and I know it will be awesome when I finish it. I *will* finish it before January is over.

Issue #2: I’m Buying Too Many Books

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Look, I understand this dilemma. For a while I was keeping track of my entire library based on ISBN number, until I realized if my husband ever saw the spreadsheet, he might just go buy that boat he’s been eyeing.

Source of this issue: Pretty covers, deckle edges, UK editions of Captive Prince, I get it. You need them all on your shelves. Or maybe you just need to download the ebook version of the newest Christina Lauren even though you already pre-ordered the paperback because you HAVE to read it at midnight. You are not alone. But you do need to save a little money.

Book Resolution: Try to go to the library. I know if you’re like me, this is not helpful as I want to own the books I’ve read, like a crazy doll collector who pretends her obsession isn’t an effort to keep any and all house guests from ever returning. But give it a try. Make a list at the beginning of the month of those books that you want to read but can chance parting with afterwards, and see if your local library has them. AND limit your book buying this year to a certain percentage (I’m trying for 25%) of what you read. That goes for ebooks too. Oh, this is gonna hurt. Good news is, this might actually help with Issue #1 if you’re forced to read what you ALREADY own but haven’t gotten to yet.

Issue #3: Everything I’ve Read Lately is MEH

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This was my biggest issue in 2015, and the one book related problem I was determined to overcome this year. What do you do when everything you’re reading is just ok, and when you close it, you feel it wasn’t worth your time or your attention or even the 3 stars you’re going to inevitably give it on Goodreads?

Source of this issue: Bad recommendations and good marketing. Look, if you don’t fully trust a source, don’t read what they are telling you to. I don’t recommend books that I don’t love and truly think other people will as well. I’m not arrogant enough to think that everyone will love what I do, but I am honest enough to never tell you I loved something when I didn’t. That’s not the case everywhere. If you’re browsing the top reviews of a book on Goodreads hoping for honest dialogue, you’re barking up a mediocre tree waiting to drop some tracker jackers on you. That’s dangerous, is what I’m saying. Get recs from people you trust. And just because something is new and all over your feed and a ton of “Can’t Wait for in 2016” lists does not mean you have to give it your time. Stay woke.

Book resolution: Do not finish a book you aren’t really enjoying. Give it 5 chapters if it’s young adult, 10 chapters if it’s not. If it hasn’t grabbed you, if the language is banal, if the tone is annoying, if the author is off their game, just put it down. Go pick up something else on your list and keep moving. You will feel so much better. And that gif? EFF THAT. If I’ve given it a good 2-3 hours of my reading time, and it’s not doing it for me, my opinion is valid. I’m out.

Issue #4: I’m stuck in a _______ rut

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First things first: If you are super into Bangsian Alternative Universe Urban Erotica, and you love every crazy ass minute of reading it, don’t you let a soul tell you that you need to branch out. If you’re cool with your rut, then stay the eff there. Ain’t no thang. BUT if you keep finding yourselves browsing the Biggest Hunks of New Adult Listopia for your next Tragirotica fix, please let someone pull you out of the mire. Sometimes we all find ourselves in a book rut we aren’t happy living in.

Source of this issue: I think this starts off innocently enough. We chance upon a new category or genre and we want to devour it all! We need the next Outlander, the next Fever series, the next Twilight. So we get stuck looking for it, and in the process read some great books, but then taper off into mediocrity until we find ourselves scrabbling for daylight and pretending that steampunk vampires are a thing.

Book Resolution: Palate cleanse with non-fiction. I wish I could tell you that switching from one fiction genre to the next often alleviates this problem, but if often exacerbates it because what you WANT is your next fix, and what you try to replace it with often just infuriates you. So go cold turkey. Read a biography or history or self-help. Then go back to that interminable TBR list and find something outside your rut genre.

And in the meantime, I’m going to be the worst person in the history of the internet and tell you that Boozy Book Club January picks, Feverborn and Passenger are BOTH OUT NOW, so go read now (however you choose to do so), and then join us NEXT MONDAY at 10pmEST for a LIVE Hangout. Also go browse some of our posts about books and find something you missed us recommending the first time around.